Viper (Second Wave Book 1) (2 page)

They were inseparable for eighteen
months. Their connection was so deep they could finish each other’s sentences,
know what the other was thinking and react in battle to each other’s movements.
Even though they were in a war zone, their lives in danger every second, she
had never been happier in her life.

For those eighteen months, Lara
wasn’t the strange loner who people avoided and mocked. The bullied little girl
who buried her pain in other worlds in the books that she read. No one ever
cared that she was kind, or that she would die for a stranger, all they saw was
the awkward and painfully shy girl who knew she didn’t belong.

With John, she wasn’t that person.
He taught her how to bury the pain, overlook the past and be proud of who she
was and relish the uniqueness.  

It was undoubtedly unique. Enough
to bring it to the attention of their teammates who ended up calling them bro
and sis as a joke. Lara smiled at the memories, pushing on in the deepening darkness
through the barely there path in the forest.

She didn’t need a light; she knew
the path by heart. She had been six years old when she met her grandfather for the
first time and made her first trip into this forest. Her mother’s father had
come as a surprise and had begged her mother to let her go fishing with him for
a few days at their old homestead cabin.

He had leaned down to her at the
start of the journey and told her to pay close attention, one day she would
need to remember the way. Throughout the three-day trip, he pointed out
specific markers for her to remember. The unique roots of a tree, a particular
rock outcropping, odd little permanent signs in the landscape to remember where
she was.

He had been right about her needing
to know the way. It was as if he had known his time had come and this last
trek, with her, his only remaining task to complete. The day they reached the
cabin he had died, and she had been forced to make the three-day journey back,
alone, to get help.

Everyone had called it a miracle
that she had made it back alive, but it had only made her even stranger to the
other kids and even most of the adults. There had even been snide, painful
accusations that maybe she had killed her grandfather, even though the autopsy
revealed it had been a massive heart attack.

From then on she had been known as
a freak, and all she wanted was to go back into the forest, where her mind felt
at peace. Where the animals and the trees didn’t judge her or punish her for
being different.  

At six years old, there was no way
her parents would let her back out there again, so she ran through the pathway
in her mind every night, never forgetting the way that her grandfather had
taught her to get there.

By ten years old, she had convinced
her parents to buy her a tent and would spend most good nights sleeping beneath
the stars. It had taken a while for her parents to realize that she was moving
her tent farther away from the house, closer to the edge of the forest. By then
the strained relationship between them made the new arrangement almost a relief
to them all.

It wasn’t that her parents didn’t
love her, or that she didn’t love them. On the contrary, they loved her very
much and she them. They just had no idea how to relate to or communicate with
one another. They seemed to have absolutely nothing in common, no bond at all.
It was like living with kind and wonderful strangers.

The older she got, the more obvious
it became to all of them that she didn’t belong there. With them. On the
weekends or school holidays, she would spend most of her time outside, in the
woods surrounding their home, in the mountains and sleeping in the tent at
night. She’d go for days without seeing them.

Her father had taught her how to
shoot when she was ten, when he realized that she may need to protect herself
from animals at night in the tent. Every few days she would bring something else
out to the tent that made it more like a home. Her parents, seeing how happy
she was, would help by buying her things to make her more comfortable.

It wasn’t until Lara was sixteen
that she had convinced them to let her spend spring break at the cabin by
herself. She had bought one of those personal locator beacons and promised that
she would use it if she needed to.

Her mother had fought the idea at
first, saying it was one thing to camp out a few hundred feet in the woods from
the house and another to go tens of miles into a national forest alone.

She had finally relented when her
father had gotten Lara a satellite phone that allowed her to send them text
messages and could also send emergency texts as well. From then on, she spent every
weekend, school holiday and summer at the cabin or somewhere in the forest.

Lara pulled herself out of her
memories when she heard the low warning call of a hawk in the distance. The
sound causing her to stop and just listen to the forest sounds around her.
There was nothing, she thought. That was a problem.  

Standing completely still, Lara
closed her eyes and breathed deeply, calming her mind and opening her other
senses to the familiar area around her.

It wasn’t what she heard that
bothered her, it was what she didn’t hear. The scratching of the rabbits and
other rodents into their burrows, the rustling of the leaves in the trees as
the squirrels and birds settled down for the night, the quiet padding of the
night predators through the undergrowth looking for their evening meal. It was
all missing.

There was the problem, she thought,
turning her head to the sudden sound of voices off to her left. They were too
far away from her to understand the words. Judging by the sound and location
she was a good ten minutes away from where the voices were coming from.

With a heavy sigh, Lara quickly
made up her mind and pulled off both of her packs. Finding a heavy patch of
undergrowth, she hid both packs before checking her weapons and standard gear
that she kept on her at all times in the forest.

She’d lived here long enough to
know that those who were unfamiliar with the forest could easily get injured or
killed if they strayed too far in without being properly prepared.

Lara headed towards the sound of
the voices before she could change her mind. No matter how much she wanted to
get to the cabin; she couldn’t leave knowing someone may be injured and in need
of help.  

Lara
decided to check out the situation and if all was well, she’d be back on her
way with no real time lost. They would never even know she was there; she thought
as she silently, but quickly, headed towards the direction the voices had come
from.

Chapter Two

Viper stopped fighting the ropes
and held his breath while he listened. Closing his eyes, he fought the waves of
pain in his head until he confirmed his fears. The heavy sigh he heard was
unmistakable in the silence surrounding them.

No! He screamed in his mind, fear
causing him to tremble as he opened his eyes and looked around the camp for the
blurry images of the Relian’s. His heart almost stopped beating when he heard
the quiet whisper behind him.

“Just move your head to acknowledge
me, if you can. Can you understand me?”

Viper closed his eyes and breathed
in deeply, the scent and sound enveloping his battered senses. The sound of her
coming closer caused him to open his eyes and shake his head.

“Go! Run!” Viper whispered
hoarsely, trying to get her out of danger.

Several moments passed before he
heard another heavy sigh from a little closer behind him this time. Viper
closed his eyes, hoping to will her away to somewhere safe and far from here.
Breathing deeply again, he drew her scent into his lungs, making sure that no
matter where she went, he would find her.

“Yeah well, I’m not the running type.
And me and guys like this, we have a longstanding private thing going on so I’m
not walking away. Now pull your feet up towards your chest.” The angry whisper
that came from behind him told Viper that whoever she was she had dealt with
the Relian’s before.

Viper flinched when he felt the
surge of energy that flooded him at the slight touch of her hands on his own.
Somehow she had shimmied on the ground until she was lying flat on her stomach
behind him and cutting through the tightly bound ropes around his wrists.

“It would really help if you put
your knees up. That way when I hand you the knife, you can cut your ankles
without them noticing. It will give us an edge of surprise if they don’t know
you’re free.” Lara whispered quietly behind him as she struggled to cut the
thick, tight ropes without cutting the bleeding man.

Lara didn’t know who he was, and
she didn’t care. All she knew was that the same kind of men who had killed
John, who had betrayed her country and her team, were in her woods with another
victim. Another soldier like John, judging by the way he was dressed.   

She couldn’t save John, but she
damn well would save this guy and kill the five morons that dared to come into
her forest to harm another soldier.

“You have to run; I will find you
later. I promise.” Viper said with a groan as he felt the rope finally fall
free of his wrists. Leaning his head back he flexed his fists, trying to bring
the feeling back into his fingers.

Lara just chuckled quietly. Where
she was going, she would never be found.  

“Stay still. How bad are you
injured? Can you fight? Can you run?” Lara asked, grabbing the man’s hands and
quickly wrapping his bleeding wrists before placing a Ka-Bar knife in one hand
and a 9mm in his other.

“Vision is blurry, but I can fight.
Now go!” Viper hissed as he clutched the weapons tightly in his hands, wishing
the woman was anywhere but here. Even as he had to fight within himself not to turn
around and look at her.

“Stay focused soldier! We don’t
have time for this! Assess yourself and get ready on my go.” Lara whispered
gruffly. The guy must have a pretty bad concussion to think he was getting out
of this without her; she thought.

The second Lara had seen the huge
men in the clearing she had known they would die. That she would kill them. The
fact that they were beating on a guy tied to a tree was only part of the reason
why.

These were the same traitors to her
country that she had dealt with in Afghanistan. Maybe not the exact same ones,
but working for the same people. They were the same kind of men who killed
John, and they weren’t going to kill this man while she still had breath.

Lara ignored the man’s growling
curses as she scooted back to the tree line and moved silently away from the
man, not wanting to make him a target when she got the attention of the five
bastards stomping around the clearing.

Making sure she was far enough away
from the injured man to prevent him from being accidentally hit, she raised her
M16 and downed the first three before the other two even realized where she was
firing from.

She hit the ground just as the
heavy fire tore through the trees around her. Keeping her head down, she prayed
the man at the tree had taken cover by now.

“Get them here now!”

Lara cursed silently when she
realized they were going to call for backup. With the man injured, there was no
way they could fight off more. Taking a chance, the other guy still firing at
her, she stood quickly and taking aim was able to take out the guy using the
mini-pad-like device. Unfortunately, the bastard got off a lucky shot before he
hit the ground.

Dropping back down she gingerly
cradled her shoulder, checking her back to make sure it was a through and
through. She sighed in relief when she felt the blood through her shirt. At
least, she wouldn’t have to dig for a bullet; she thought with a sigh.

The single gunshot startled the
hell out of her. Jerking herself to her feet, she moved quickly across the
clearing to the man standing over the last body.

“We need to check the bodies and get
moving. We have no idea if they sent out a distress call…” Lara began to say,
before slamming to a stop as if she’d been slapped. Light brown eyes stared
entranced by a green gaze that studied her as if she were meant to be
memorized. It made her uneasy, yet felt like she had been missing it her whole
life.

“How did you get here? What is your
name?” Viper asked hoarsely as he stared at the vision in front of him. With
the moonlight streaming down on them in the clearing, and his blurry vision, she
almost looked unreal, like a vision his mind had created.

Her golden hair was tied back from
her face; a few wispy strands fought to be contained and swung adorably around
her oval face. Her large, light brown eyes stared at him as his traveled down
her pert little nose to her full lips. That was as much detail as he could get
while his vision faded in and out of focus.

It was the rest of her that
surprised him the most. She looked like she had just come from a mission. Her
small frame was swamped in tact gear similar to his own. The multi-pocket
pants, the same kind of vest and boots… she was geared for war. But whose? He
wondered briefly. She wasn’t one of their people. He would have known. He would
have found her much sooner.

“We… uh we need to go. Now.” Lara
said, pulling her eyes from the intense green of the man swaying on his feet in
front of her.

Fighting the urge to go to him and
make sure he was all right, Lara focused on the body in front of her and rifled
through his clothes before smashing the mini-pad device under her heel. The
huge man just stared at her.

Lara had no idea the man was so big
when she’d seen him slumped at the tree. He was at least six-foot six and
looked like he lifted small cars in the gym parking lot.  

He would have looked scary as hell
if he wasn’t swaying unsteadily on his feet, his gun barely hanging on to the
tips of his fingers. He looked like he was going to go down at any minute, and
he couldn’t do it here; she thought. They had to put some distance between this
place and themselves.

Lara moved quickly in front of him,
grabbing the gun from his fingers; she tucked it into the waistband of his
pants. She breathed deeply through the pain of the memory of doing the same
with John at one time.

“I won’t let you die. I swear to you;
I will keep you safe.” Lara hadn’t realized she had spoken the words aloud
until the man gently caressed her face.

“I will not let you die either.”
Viper said gruffly, his energy sparking at her nearness.

Lara stared into the strange man’s
beautiful green eyes and wondered why she had said such a thing. The same words
she said to John at one time. This man wasn’t John she thought, pulling away
from him quickly.

“We need to go. Now.” Lara said,
looking into his unfocused eyes until he nodded his head.  

Lara knew he’d never make it far
without help, so she grabbed his forearm and gently pulled him back the way she
come.

“Tree branch, on your right,
fourteen paces. What’s your name?” Lara said, warning him to watch his footing
up ahead.

“Viper fle’ te’ Trugh. What is
yours?” Viper asked, hating that he was almost completely helpless to protect
her right now. They were sending reinforcements; he had heard the response on
the comm before he had shot the man firing on the female.

Lara whistled low. “That’s a hell
of a call sign soldier. I’ll just call you Viper. I’m Sgt. Lara Blain… well I
used to be anyway. Now I’m just Lara Blain again. I need to grab something I
left behind up ahead; you wait here for me. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”

Lara waited until Viper nodded his
head slowly before heading to get the packs she’d left behind. His strange
accent confused her; she had heard it before but couldn’t place where and what
language it was. Goosebumps had skittered down her spine when he had said his name,
which he pronounced Flay’ Tee’ True.

As strange as the name was, Lara
could have sworn she had heard it before, or a name similar to it. She tried to
clear her head from the strange spell the man seemed to have over her and think
of what she was going to do with him.

It would take four days to get him
out of the forest from where they were now. Judging by the quick assessment
she’d made, he had a serious concussion, a few broken ribs and a couple of bad
lacerations that had enough time for blood to dry and crust them closed. All of
which needed to wait while they put some distance between them and the dead
guys before their back-up arrived.

Grabbing her packs, she sucked in a
deep breath and had to pant away the pain when the pack strap laid over the
hole in her shoulder. Uncaring at how awkward it would make her stride; she slid
the pack off her wounded shoulder and added it to the other pack on her right
side.

Picking her way quickly through the
forest she made her way back to Viper, who was still standing exactly where she
had left him, to her relief.

“Let’s go. We have a lot of ground
to cover before we can rest.” Lara said, trying to avoid his piercing green
gaze. He didn’t look the least surprised at her return, as if he had known she
wasn’t far away and would keep her word to return to him.

Shaking off her crazy thoughts,
Lara grabbed his arm with her left and hoped he wouldn’t fight her and pull on
her injured shoulder as she began walking them to the closest, safest spot she
knew of.

Viper allowed her to help him
through the trees, and he hated to admit he was grateful that she was. He
stumbled more than he liked, and although he had no idea where she was taking
him, he knew beyond a doubt that she was leading him to be somewhere safe.

More importantly, the longer she
touched him, the more his energy sparked and grew. As if she was feeding him,
helping him heal faster. He’d never experienced anything like it. Even his
brother could not accomplish such a feat.

They went an hour without a word
between them. The silence normally would have been uncomfortable and tension
filled for Lara, but with this man, the time had passed almost peacefully. John
had been the only person that she could do that with.

She stopped suddenly, and was
surprised when Viper stopped just as quickly instead of bumping into her as she
had expected. He had to be paying very close attention to her movements to be
able to do that, she thought.

Lara shook off the feeling of déjà
vu’ and let go of his arm while she pulled the heavy packs off her now numb
shoulder and let them slide to the ground with a thud.

Viper winced at the sound of the
heavy weight hitting the ground. He’d had no idea she was carrying anything so
heavy and felt terrible that he hadn’t offered to bear the weight for her.

“I’ll carry them when we start back
again.” He whispered, allowing her to help him to the ground beside her.

Lara chuckled softly as she leaned
back against a tree. “You just keep yourself upright, and I’ll take care of the
rest. Sadly, this is nothing new to me. Same war, different location. Only this
time I know where the hell I am. This is my forest those fuckers came into.”

Viper was taken aback by the jolt
of energy that shot from her body to his own, inches away. He could feel her
pain and anger course through him as the energy merged with his own. It took
several moments for him to realize what she had said.

“You have fought them before?
Where? Are there others with you?” Viper asked, hoping maybe she had a team
nearby. Someone who could contact Ivint and Dread and get her out of danger.

His hopes were dashed when she
sighed heavily before chuckling again. “No… there’s no one else. They killed
everyone else. It’s just me. But before you let that worry you, I wasn’t
kidding about this being my forest. I grew up here. I know every damn part of
it. And they don’t. I will keep my word, and keep you safe.”